Iowa lottery mystery continues, phone records sought

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Iowa investigators have subpoenaed phone and email records in an attempt to unravel the mystery behind a winning $14.3 million Iowa lottery ticket mystery.

According to the Associated Press, that ticket was withdrawn after the winner refused to be identified, according to the agent overseeing the wide-ranging inquiry.

Patrick Townsend, special-agent-in-charge with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, told the Associated Press investigators remain unable to identify the person who bought the Hot Lotto ticket in December 2010 at a Des Moines gas station.

The purchase set in motion a bizarre series of events that has fascinated Iowans and generated worldwide attention.

A New York lawyer claiming to represent the winning trust waited until minutes before the one-year deadline to claim the prize on Dec. 29, 2011, then withdrew the claim weeks later rather than explain how he wound up with the ticket.

“I wish I could tell you it was solved. It is intriguing and has a lot of twists and turns,” Townsend said in a phone interview Monday. “This is not a normal or typical case. It has some different aspects to it. We’ve definitely taken the time to look at a lot of those things and see where the leads take us.”